Light After Darkness
by Artemis225
Summary: Harry is visiting the graves of the fallen a year after the war, feeling the guilt that is still heavy on his chest. Soon, a person comes to help relieve a bit of that pain.


**A/N: It's another year without Harry Potter. It's getting a bit easier, but I still miss it. Here's a one-shot that I've been thinking about. Hope you enjoy, and please review!**

It's been a year since the war, and Harry walked through the cemetery holding all of those that died at the final battle. It felt strange, knowing that he could have been one of them. That one of those head stones could have read, "Here lies Harry Potter. Beloved friend. The Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One, and fighter against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Harry couldn't fight the chuckle that escaped his throat at the thought of all of those titles and trying to fit them on a slab of stone.

He continued to step through, his eyes flickering over all of the names, and finally coming to a stop at the ones he mainly wanted to see. They were all buried in a row, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin, and Fred Weasley. Harry smiled down at the gravestones, kneeling down to get a closer look. There was flowers overflowing on the ground, along with pictures of all of them smiling, happy, living life. Harry couldn't help but smile as he saw all of their happy faces, even though he could feel the tears beginning to form in his eyes.

"Hey guys," he whispered softly, as if he didn't want to disturb the rest of the dead that lied in the cemetery, "I hope you guys are having fun, partying up there. I know you," he looked at Fred's headstone, "Are probably driving everyone nuts with your pranks. I also figure you have become an official Marauder now. I'm sure George would be ecstatic to hear that. And jealous I imagine. You finally being able to hang out with your pranking heroes." He turned to Lupin's and Tonks' head stone, the two sharing one as they were buried together, "Teddy is doing great. Andromeda and I are trying to keep him as tired as possible though, he's beginning to walk, and has a lot of energy. He doesn't seem to have inherited Tonk's clumsiness, but I guess it's still too early to tell. I miss you guys so much." The tears fell freely now, and Harry didn't care. Their deaths were still so raw, and they were his family, and now they were gone, ripped from him and everyone else's lives in a matter of moments. George shouldn't be without his brother, and Teddy shouldn't be without his parents, but they were without them, and there wasn't anything Harry could do about it.

Harry jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned around to find Mrs. Weasley, smiling down at him gently. Harry stood up quickly, brushing his tears away with his sleeves, "Mrs. Weasley! Sorry, I'll leave if you need me to."

"Don't be silly dear! You have every right to be here just as I do," the older witch told him, a sad smile on her face as she looked down and began to clean Fred's headstone by hand. Harry watched her silently as the woman that became his mother over these last few years cleaned her son's head stone. More tears welled in his eyes as he whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what Harry," she asked as she looked up at him, a worried look on her face.

"It's my fault he's dead," Harry explained, his voice never going above a whisper. Mrs. Weasley stood up and wrapped the young man in a hug.

"It is _not_ your fault that Fred's dead Harry. Nor is it your fault that Remus or Tonks died, or anybody else's death. It's Voldemort's, and it's as plain as that," she told him, but Harry shook his head.

"If I had died," he began but she cut him off.

"Then they would still be dead and there would have been no one here to stop Voldemort from taking over. Things happen for a reason Harry, whether we like those reason or not," she said to him, and they both grew quiet as Mrs. Weasley pulled away from him slightly to look back down at the graves. It was silent for a moment before she spoke again, "It's difficult for a mother to bury her child, because it's supposed to be the other way around. And it's hard for a child to grow up without his parents. And it hurts to know that I will never see my baby ever again, and I always wish that I had showed him more love, showed him that he did make me proud. And I can't do that anymore," tears started streaming down the older witch's face, and she was wrapped in another hug.

"He knew that you loved him Molly," Harry told her, "He knows that everything you did was so that he had a good life. He knew that."

"And you should know that no matter what happened that day, you did what you had to do to protect everyone. And I know that your parents are proud of the man that you have become, as are Remus and Sirius. You should be proud of all of the things that you have achieved, not blame yourself for something that you can't change," she told him, placing a gentle hand on his cheek before pulling him into another tight hug. Harry squeezed his eyes shut tight, trying to keep the tears from escaping.

"Thank you Molly," he whispered, "For everything you've done for me."

"I would do it all again in a heartbeat," she whispered back, "You are like a son to me, and I'll always be here for you. Do you understand?" When he nodded she smiled at him before patting his cheek and pulling away. She gathered her things up and kissed her son's picture than began to walk away, "I'll see you at the house later Harry." They waved good bye to each other, and soon Harry was alone again. He looked back down at the graves, the sun shining down brightly on them. He smiled brightly as he thought of it as them smiling down at him.

"Ok, ok, I'll stop moping around now," he told them, a chuckle bubbling out of his throat again, "You know that Teddy is in good hands! And George has been trying to get back into his old jokester self, so you don't have to worry about him Fred. I'm going to go now. Have fun up there in the sky. Love you guys," Harry kissed the stones as well before standing up and walking away, the feeling of a large weight lifting off his chest, and had a huge smile on his face.


End file.
